About seven weeks after taking a prestigious success in the Gran Premio della Liberazione one-day Classic, Matthew Goss got back to making the headlines on Italian soil. The Australian fastman (and excellent track rider) had the quickest legs in the final sprint of some 60 legs which determined the outcome of the third stage in the Giro d'Italia Under 26, from Sant’Elena Sannita to Castelpetroso over 115 kms, after all previous attacks - especially the one staged by Maurizio Girardini (G.S. Zalf Desirée Fior) who made his move around km. 75 and stayed clear for close to 30 kms - were chased down.

The South Australia-AIS athlete prevented Dmytro Grabovskyy from notching his second stage victory in a row. The mighty Ukrainian came in second, with MCS Bedogni-Natalizi Praga's Dario Cataldo in the other top three place. "When I saw Grabovskyy move to the front of the peloton in order to set the pace with 5k left, I sat on his wheel, and got latched on to it" the winner said in after-race interviews, adding that "I came to the Giro with a stage victory as my goal, but I didn't think that I could win today. I was waiting for later, flatter stages, which are more appropriate to my skills".

Just like after the race opener two days before, The Big Grabovskyy might even be somehow upset at playing the "first loser" role again, but he'll no doubt rejoice at making further gains on his overall rivals, courtesy of the bonus seconds he was awarded. The Finauto-Team Casini leader increased his advantage over Cataldo (also proud getter of some time bonuses) to 27 seconds, while compatriot Zagorodniy is currently trailing by 34" after losing half a dozen more secs (as much as all other top finishers, but Goss - who moved up into spot number seven - and Cataldo, did) to the unchallenged king of the race. The only other thing worthy of mention was Francesco Gavazzi's arrival into the top 10 spots overall, not to the delight of his fellow Italian Pier Luigi Senor.

The Baby Giro d'Italia resumes Monday with a comparatively long (165 km.) journey from Isernia to Celano, in the central part of the nation.